Alex Martino
LEGL 616.12
4/11/2012

Privacy with Regards to Electronic Communication in the Workplace

Background
Given the rise of electronic communication, it is not surprising that privacy with regards to communication such as emailing, texting, or social networking, has become a very big issue. Probably the most prominent area relating to electronic privacy is consumer privacy. Stories about Google or Facebook’s privacy policies are front-page news. However, although it perhaps receives less attention, electronic workplace privacy is just as big an issue.
Workers communicate at work using various devices. Some workers rely on a computer to send emails. Other workers may favor using a land phone or a cell phone for communication with important clients. In some cases, workers use texting on cell phones to communicate with fellow employees. The one similarity between all these workers is that they are all probably communicating on a device or on a network that belongs to the company that they work for.
Workers are also likely to use work equipment, a computer or a company cell phone, to make personal calls. This makes sense, given the long hours that people often spend at work and the ease of using work machines to communicate. A recent article in The Economist, “Slaves to the Smartphone”, states “Employees find it ever harder to distinguish between ‘on-time’ and ‘off-time’—and indeed between real work and make-work.”
Most electronic communication at work (whether via email, text, or otherwise) cannot be claimed as private. Employers have the right to monitor employees’ use of the Internet, the content of their emails, as well as other electronic communication.Of course, there are certain exceptions based on the state in which the employee resides and a number of other circumstances. For example, conversations held on personal phones are private in